How Reading Supports Your Child’s Speech and Language  

There are many benefits that reading aloud to children has on their development. Reading to children helps strengthen their comprehension skills, expands their vocabulary, and helps with processing and developing social-emotional skills. In speech therapy, reading is not only a tool for learning but a method of targeting and carrying over many skills necessary for effective communication. Here are some of the ways reading supports your child’s speech and language development.  

Use Reading to Target Speech Sound Production 

Reading is an excellent way for your child to practice their target speech sounds. Books with repetitive sounds or phrases give children the chance to practice them in various contexts. If your child is still practicing their sounds at the single-word level, pause after reading each page and review a few words that contain their sound. In addition, when reading aloud, parents and caregivers can model target sounds.  

Develop Narrative Skills Through Reading 

Reading stories and books can help your child’s understanding and development of narrative skills. When reading, your child is learning key narrative elements, including characters, setting, problem/event, feelings, solutions, resolutions, and conclusions. These elements teach your child how to tell their cohesive narratives with a clear beginning, middle, and end. In addition, reading supports understanding of sequencing. When your child is reading or being read to, they are learning how to predict what will happen next and understand the sequence of events within the story, both are important aspects of critical thinking and overall language development. Try using the Story Grammar Marker or a similar visual with your child to highlight the key story elements within their reading material.  

Reading to Children Expands Their Vocabulary 

Reading supports vocabulary in several ways: 

• Exposure to new vocabulary words: Reading introduces children to a wide range of vocabulary. This helps expand their vocabulary “inventory,” which is foundational for both expressive and receptive language development. 

• Contextual learning: Through stories, children learn how words are used in different contexts, which aids in the understanding and use of novel vocabulary words. In addition, encountering words within the context of a sentence helps readers infer meanings. 

• Phonological awareness: Reading, especially aloud, helps children become more aware of the sounds within words.  

• Sight words: Frequent reading helps with the recognition of sight words (words that readers learn to recognize without having to sound them out).  

• Morphological Awareness: Through reading, children learn to recognize roots, prefixes, and suffixes in words, which helps them understand the meaning of new vocabulary through word structure.  

• Synonyms and Antonyms: Reading often introduces synonyms, helping readers to broaden their vocabulary inventory.  

Reading Develops Social Communication  

Reading stories, especially those with dialogue and pictures, helps in identifying and understanding emotions, both basic and higher-level. This helps children identify and interpret similar emotions through nonverbal communication in real-life situations. Books often present multiple perspectives, allowing children to view a variety of situations through different lenses. This practice enhances empathy and helps readers understand others’ thoughts and feelings, which is important for effective social communication.  

Sometimes stories contain a “problem” or event that involves forward thinking and planning to solve. Readers can practice their problem-solving skills by determining solutions to problems within their reading material. When your child learns the outcomes of the characters within their stories, this fosters critical thinking, which is valuable for making thoughtful decisions in social situations. This can help readers apply similar strategies within their own peer interactions.  

Reading helps reinforce the connection between spoken and written language. It is a powerful tool in fostering speech and language development. Learn more about how you can target your child’s speech and language goals with some of our favorite stories.  

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